Human rights monitoring: Morocco’s council has no jurisdiction over Western Sahara territory

SPS19/05/2017 - 15:31

Brussels, May 19, 2017 (SPS) - The Moroccan Council of Human Rights (CNDH), mentioned by the European Union (EU) in the questions of human rights violation in Western Sahara "has no jurisdiction" over this territory, under the international law, said MEP Paloma Lopez.

In its answers to the questions of MEPs about the Moroccan suppression of Sahrawi activists, journalists and children "the Commission repeats the same answer that it simply doesn’t received additional information from the CNDH," she said in a question to the EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini.

The CNDH is "a body coming under the Moroccan government which, by virtue of the international law, does not have jurisdiction over Western Sahara," and is therefore not capable of supervising and protecting human rights in that territory.

In this regard, Paloma Lopez suggested addressing the issue of human rights violations in Western Sahara before the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the UN Security Council.

Dubbing "extremely serious" the cases of Sahrawi activists, children and journalists, the MEP asked the European Commission about the measures taken to make sure that the Sahrawi prisoners are freed and their fundamental rights are respected.

MEP Paloma Lopez called on the EU, on several occasions, to "adopt sanctions against Morocco" for violating the fundamental rights of the Sahrawis, in particular those of children. (SPS)